2008 Ford F-350 Super Duty Lariat Crew Cab Dualie 4x4

Driving Miss Diesel in Lala Land.

There's a reason full-size-truck previews are often held in Texas. Texas is big. It has big roads. It has big parking spaces. It has lots of those cool water-crossing photo ops. And, yes, it has cheap fuel. Lots of it. Unleaded, super, and—oh, yes—diesel, too. Texas, my friends, is pure pickup paradise.

So what could be wrong about Ford launching its enormous all-new, 2008 F-series Super Duty pickups in Texas? Well, it seems the Lone Star State also has big weather, including big ice storms on occasion, with one particularly awful one blanketing most of Texas late this past winter, paralyzing travel for several of the exact same days the Ford team scheduled the official media drive program. Thus, none of us was able to make it to Ford's Super Duty hoedown, which undoubtedly would have consisted of the regularly prescribed mix of street driving, towing, off-roading, several barbecue lunches, and at least one event involving milking cows or chasing greased pigs. But considering the importance of this vehicle, we arranged to do our own drive as soon as possible, somewhere where weather and smelly livestock are of much less concern: sunny Southern California.

Turns out, there may be lots better places than SoCal for driving trucks as big and brazen as the black F-350 Super Duty 4x4 that showed up, complete with the PowerStroke diesel V-8, a constellation of clearance lights, and, of course, dual rear wheels. It was Ford's ultimate expression of pickup power: towing, hauling, and crew carrying, combined with big-rig badness, leather-lined comfort, and a Texas-sized grille. A six-wheeled bull in a 1000-square-mile China shop, it would either cause tornadic destruction along L.A.'s crowded boulevards or part the sea of hybrids and rented Mustangs with a sort of Moses-like magic. Maybe both.

A Very Important Truck

Now, to say the Super Duty is important to Ford is an understatement that might make Bill Ford's head explode. The Super Duty represents roughly 40 percent of all Ford F-series sales. But although it falls under the "F-series" banner, the Super Duty is no mere trim level of the F-150. Unlike GM and Dodge, whose heavy-duty pickups are essentially just strengthened versions of their light-duty trucks, Ford's Super Duty trucks share little with the F-150; they have unique frames, interiors, and exteriors, and two unique powertrains. This explains why this truck was launched during the middle of the F-150's product cycle, but it doesn't explain how Ford can claim with a straight face that the F-series is the world's single bestselling vehicle when F-series sales figures include two completely different trucks.

But who are we to dwell on such petty points? Especially when "Black Betty," as our truck came to be known, is triple-parked outside and begging to go Titan-tipping?

Torque and Noise—the Super Duty Is the "trucker's truck"

Indeed, we were most interested in experiencing the Super Duty's new 6.4-liter PowerStroke diesel V-8 (up from last year's 6.0-liter), mated as it was to a six-speed manual transmission. A $6545 option, the PowerStroke produces a stout 350 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque; the base 300-hp, 5.4-liter V-8 and the 364-hp, 6.8-liter V-10 are essentially carryover. The Super Duty is offered in three different models: the F-250, the F-350, and the new F-450, the latter capable of carrying three tons in the bed alone or towing up to 24,000 pounds when equipped with a fifth wheel and a 4.88 rear axle. We knew we'd never come close to that this week, so we were content with this F-350's 4.10 limited-slip rear axle, a "mere" 5380-pound cargo capacity, and a 13,000-pound towing capacity.

So, how was it? Robust enough to pull around the truck's claimed 7150-pound empty-bed weight with confidence. And yes, it felt as if it could pull the wreckage of the Titanic back to the surface with all that torque. Many times, we were able to get the back wheels spinning at launch, although, seemingly, as soon as they caught, it was time to shift, as the 3500-rpm redline came up quickly and abruptly. However, once we rowed that wobbly, long-throw shifter into, say, third, shifting was all but unnecessary in around-town traffic.

And then there was the noise. Between the whirrrh of the turbo, the castanet clatter of the valvetrain, and the shrieking intake whoosh, any cabin conversation came to a standstill until we got up to speed. But even then, at anything above 65 mph, immutable wind noise added to the cacophony. The Super Duty is a trucker's truck; if you want a quiet HD pickup, head over to the Chevy/GMC dealer and don't look back.

Not a Bad Dancer for a Big Girl, but Give Her Room

However—and this seems somewhat sacrilegious to say in the context of a dualie—all that torque also helped us get the rear wheels to step out a bit in corners. Mind you, though, with those huge hips, you don't attempt that without a good three lanes of clearance on the outside of your chosen line. But at least the chances of rolling over in corners—with an empty bed, anyway—are virtually nil, considering the impressive rear track and the F-350's stiff springs and shocks that keep both ends of the truck admirably flat. The strengthened chassis couldn't have hurt ultimate roadholding ability. Then again, we're not exactly talking about road grip in the same context as with a Honda S2000. Besides, rapid changes in direction are all but impossible given the slow steering response, especially right off center where there was a dead spot the size of Austin.

The standard four-wheel disc brakes, however, are stellar. The front rotors measure 13.7 inches, with the rears nearly as big at 13.4, and although there isn't much by way of brake feel, at least there is response. We might be telling a different story had we piled 5000 pounds of something into the 6.5-foot bed, but alas, the bed stayed empty.

"Coloring Between the Lines"

Thus, stopping was of much less concern than "coloring within the lines." At 80 inches wide, the single-rear-wheel Super Duty is already girth-endowed, but at no fewer than eight feet wide, the dualie is a handful. Trust us, you may never realize how narrow the roads around your neighborhood are until you spend a week in one of these. Add the swarming L.A. traffic, and you have a white-knuckle experience at pretty much any speed.

After a couple of days (and a few— oops, sorry!—experiences that could have gotten ugly without the Super Duty's handy split trailer mirrors to show us the rear wheels' path), we figured out just where along the hoodline we had to "place" the lane stripes to avoid steamrolling smaller cars. We also figured out which intersections could accommodate the SD's 52-foot turning circle. After a spell, an all-conquering sense of manliness set in, and we felt as if we could fit the big thing anywhere. "Just watch" became our mantra.

Comfortable Interior

At that point, we started to appreciate the comfortable fitments and attractive mix of materials in the Lariat trim level. The chrome-ringed instruments—all eight of them—look great, and a computer was on hand to tell us everything we wanted to know about our trip (such as range) and some things we didn't (like our 11.5-mpg average fuel economy). The front bench seats, however wide, proved comfortable, and with more than five-and-a-half feet of hip-room, there was ample space for kids (and some adults) to lie down and catch a nap across the rear seat, if only the jouncing ride would have allowed it.

Options found on our $51,810 tester included a power-sliding rear window, a power sunroof, a reverse sensor (very handy), and our favorite, an integrated step that popped out of the open tailgate—complemented by a fold-out assist "handle"—to help the less limber among truck owners step into the bed.

Among the things we liked the best were the excellent stereo and the abundance of door pockets. What we liked least were the embarrassingly small glove box and the lack of a small dash cubby where one could place his or her cell phone. After all, in L.A., cup holders do not count as storage whenever there's a latte or water bottle around, which is always.

Things we didn't test: the 4x4's shift-on-the-fly four-wheel-drive system, the trailer brake controller, the engine-block heater, and the "upfitter" switches. Then again, we were in L.A., where people drive big behemoths like Black Betty not because they need to tow or haul but because they want to be bad-ass. And that we were.

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